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Love Compels Us
From the General Director
This is the third Witness in a five-part series that explores Multiply’s Foundational Values.
Why Global Mission?
Why? It’s one of the most important questions we ask. It reveals our motives, our core convictions, and our beliefs. So why do we engage in global mission? Why is it important to connect the Church both locally and globally?
For me, the answer lies in the belief that we serve a missionary God whose relentless love pursues people.
When Adam and Even hid in shame, God pursued them and called out, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). When Hagar felt abandoned and alone, she encountered God and said, “You are the God who sees me” (Genesis 16:13). When Elijah hid in a cave in fear and despair and wanted to die, God came to him and spoke in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). When the world struggled in darkness, God came as light, took on the vulnerable human flesh of a baby, and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). It was the most significant initiative of love the world has ever known, and yet so often ignores.
The answer lies in the belief that we serve a missionary God whose relentless love pursues people.
This past July, I attended the USMB Gathering in Omaha, Nebraska. One of the highlights for me was hearing from two of our newest global workers from the US (Colorado and Washington) who both sense God’s call to serve in the Middle East (see the exclusive interview on pages 6-7). At the Gathering, they each shared sincerely about their personal relationship with Jesus and their deep love for the people where they will be serving. It was a beautiful example to me of how God’s extravagant love compels us to join him in loving a lost world.
We engage in global mission because God first loved us. He loved the world so much that he sent his Son into the world. Today, he sends us into the lives of others because of the same love. The call to global mission is ultimately a call to love.
The Great Commandment
Jesus was continually asked difficult questions as he taught about the kingdom of God. At one point, he had three different groups of religious leaders approach him with questions about taxes, about the resurrection, and finally about the greatest commandment (Matthew 22). In response, Jesus starts by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” stating that this is “the first and greatest commandment” (22:37-38). But then he adds another layer by saying, “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (22:39). And then Jesus summarizes with the powerful statement, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (22:40).
Jesus makes it clear that there are both vertical and horizontal components to our faith. In a simple and beautiful way, the symbol of the cross reminds us that Jesus died to reconcile us to God (vertically) and to reconcile us to one another (horizontally).
It starts with love. If love does not compel us, we’ve lost sight of what God has done for us. When Jesus was being confronted by his opponents with tricky theological questions, he responded with a definitive statement of love.
Loving God requires loving people, even the most difficult people in our lives. Love requires us to meet others where they are, up close and personal. We don’t love people from a distance, but within proximity and time, entering into each other’s worlds to experience the kingdom of God together, a kingdom which includes imperfect people and is designed by God to fulfill the deepest human need for love.
The Great Commission
There is a context to the Great Commission in the Book of Matthew that I find very encouraging. I appreciate the vulnerability in Matthew’s honest reflections (28:16-20):
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
First, the Gospel writer acknowledges the broken reality that not all twelve of the disciples are there—there are just eleven because of the one who betrayed Jesus. Second, he also records the fact that both worship and doubt were co-existing in the remaining disciples. They have faith, but they still struggle to understand everything that just happened.
We too live with brokenness, disappointment, and sin. We worship Jesus, and we doubt. Yet we are also called, just like those first disciples, to join Jesus in this great mission adventure, a calling that requires faith and obedience.
The passage in Matthew also reminds us that Jesus has “all authority.” He is our King, and his kingdom is at hand. He is the one before whom every knee will one day bow, and he is saying, “go and make disciples of all nations.”
The Great King of heaven and earth has issued his Great Commission. As we acknowledge his authority and obey his command, we will also enjoy his presence: he will be with us always.
God’s Great Mission
Ultimately, it’s God’s mission, not ours. It’s about his love, his desire to redeem, his plan to send his Son. Yet he also invites us—even commands us—to participate, to be his witnesses, and to love as he has loved.
At Multiply, we’ve been reminding ourselves of that important distinction—that we participate in his mission, we act in his story, we love because he first loved us. It keeps us humble and keeps our focus on God, and on his love.
The Bible helps us keep that focus as well. According to Christopher Wright, Old Testament scholar and missiologist, God’s mission is the story in the Bible. In his book, The Great Story and the Great Commission, he wrote, “The whole Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of God’s purpose for the whole of God’s creation.”
I hope the stories in this edition of Witness will give greater clarity to the love that compels us to participate in God’s Great Mission. And I pray that God will find us faithful as we seek to live lives of obedience to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission!
Bruce Enns General Director
Finding His Place
PHILIPPINES | Mark JH Klassen
“When I was in high school, everything in my life started to fall apart,” said Shown, whose father left the family and whose mother moved to Manila to find work. “I was living with my stepfather in Baguio City. He was nice enough, but he gave me too much freedom, and I ended up doing all the things I shouldn’t, like drinking and partying. I was only sixteen when I dropped out of school.”
That same year, late one night in October, Shown was drunk and wandering around the city alone. “I heard music, and I thought it was Oktoberfest, so I went over, stood at the back of the crowd, and lit up a cigarette.”
He started to get strange looks from people in the crowd. “Then I saw my cousin, Pastor Ralph, on the stage,” said Shown, “and I knew this wasn’t Oktoberfest.”
Instead, it was an evangelistic concert called October Praise. Shown hadn’t seen his cousin for at least two years. “After the concert, Ralph came straight from the stage to meet me. I wasn’t expecting him to recognize me, but he came with a few other performers, and they hugged me, and welcomed me, and asked me how I was doing. That was the first time in my life that I experienced acceptance like that. I was overwhelmed by their love.”
Afterward, Ralph introduced Shown to Pastor Sam Arcaño and his wife, Evelyn, and their daughters, who were also involved with October Praise. “They invited me back to their home,” said Shown, “and offered me a place to stay for the night.”
Shown and his cousin both stayed at the Arcaño’s house. “That night, my cousin Ralph shared the Gospel with me, and it was like God was speaking to me. I knew that everything that I was doing at that time in my life was wrong. Nobody told me that, but I knew it.”
Later that night, Shown prayed and surrendered his life to Jesus.
Within days, Shown joined Pastor Sam’s church and, at the same time, moved into his home. “I asked if I could rent a room,” Shown said chuckling, “but Mommy Evelyn said, no, and they adopted me instead.”
According to Shown, the Arcaño family taught him everything he knows about family and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. “Pastor Sam discipled me, and his wife and daughters taught me about cooking, cleaning, and music.”
Eventually, Shown finished high school and went on to study automotive servicing. “But Pastor Sam kept encouraging me to study the Bible, and the more I studied, the more I wanted to learn.”
Before long, Shown was exploring the idea of going to Bible college, but he was intimidated by how expensive it was. However, friends of the Arcaño family decided to sponsor Shown for the first year, and then a church in Manila also began to support him financially.
“While I was at Bible college, Pastor Sam told me about his vision for ministry in his home province of Palawan,” Shown explained. “He started to tell me that I should prepare to go there and serve. But I didn’t want to go.”
Shown considered himself a city boy, and Palawan was so remote. “I love 7-Eleven and McDonald’s,” Shown said laughing. “I love public transport, the internet, and everything in a city. Palawan seemed too far away from all that.”
In his mind, Shown thought, I’ll stay at Bible college for five years, and Pastor Sam will forget about the Palawan idea. So Shown studied for five years, but Pastor Sam didn’t forget. “When I graduated, Pastor Sam said, ‘Okay, now you need to go to Palawan. Pastor Jonathan needs help with the young people.’”
Shown looked for a better excuse. He decided to offer his services at the church in Manila, as a way to show his gratitude for their generous help. “I told Pastor Sam that I made a two-year commitment to the church in Manila, and he accepted that.”
However, COVID interrupted Shown’s plans, and he quickly found himself back in Baguio with Pastor Sam, who was still talking about Palawan. “This time, Sam invited me to go with him,” Shown recalled, “so I finally agreed, even though I was still half-hearted.”
They stayed for a year in Palawan, in an area called Brookes Point, where the pandemic restrictions were lighter and there was more freedom to do ministry face-to-face. During that time, Shown’s heart began to change toward the place.
As Shown submitted to God’s authority, doors started to open. “As we talked to some of the pastors, and people working in the schools, it was decided that I should lead their youth ministry!”
As Shown submitted to God’s authority, doors started to open.
An interdenominational network of churches in Brookes Point invited Shown to coordinate youth and campus ministry in the area and to host a monthly worship gathering for young people.
Initially, five local churches extended the invitation to Shown. But it didn’t take long for several more churches to join in. Today, eleven churches are collaborating, along with strong support from local government and several schools.
In the beginning, Pastor Sam proposed that Shown stay in Palawan for three years, but it’s been more than that already. “After a year here, I realized that everything I had prayed for, everything I really wanted in life, I experienced it here in Palawan,” Shown reflected. “I fell in love with the place, and I fell in love with the people. They accepted me as their own.”
According to Bob Davis, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for East Asia, who has visited Shown in Brookes Point, it’s his passion for young people that is making a difference in his ministry. “Shown has an amazing gift to bring young people together. He’s not flashy, but he’s just so faithful. I saw how much the young people looked up to him. They love him because he loves them.”
“They can be irritating,” said Shown smiling, “but I was just like that, I did those same things. I needed people in my life like my cousin and Pastor Sam, and now I needed to be
the same for these youth. They need the same love and acceptance.”
As time went on, the students showed more and more interest in the Gospel. “They’re hungry for God,” he said, “and they’re coming to faith in Jesus through our Bible studies, prayer meetings, music camps, and worship events. They’re inviting each other, and they’re sharing their faith with each other in the schools. They’ve become very bold.”
According to Shown, about a third of the students are Muslims. Others are Animists from different tribal groups, and many are Catholics. But they are all young people in need of love, acceptance, and meaningful relationships.
The events that Shown organizes are held in schools, which he says is somewhat restrictive. “The long-term goal for Palawan is to build a campsite where we can host these events, so we can help these young people develop their character and prepare them spiritually for college and their careers.”
As much success as the youth ministry in Brookes Point has experienced, there are still pockets of resistance and opposition. “For me, the saddest part is the disunity among some of the church leaders,” said Shown. “It’s heartbreaking. Some of the pastors and their wives are suspicious that we’re trying to add them to our denomination. But we haven’t done that at all in the past three years—all we want is their partnership.”
God has reminded Shown again and again to stay focused on love. “For me, to love God is to love his people,” he said simply. “I have experienced rejection and judgment from people here. But I need to respond in love. I keep remembering that God brought me here, and he wants to do something special in this place. This is where I belong.”
Recently, Shown was approached by the son of the mayor in Brookes Point. As a gesture of welcome and acceptance, the young man gave Shown a plot of land where he could build a house. “Yeah, it’s kind of amazing,” Shown reflected, “because when I came here, I didn’t own anything in Palawan, but now I have something. God has given me a place here.”
GO
Shown recently hosted an ACTION team in Brookes Point, where the visitors connected with local students through prayer, training, and worship together. Would you consider joining this mission training program to learn and serve on a cross-cultural adventure? Learn more at multiply.net/action
Called to the Middle East An Interview with Two New Workers
USA | By Mark JH Klassen
This past July, at the USMB Gathering in Omaha, Nebraska, delegates were introduced to two new Multiply workers who are preparing to serve long-term in the Middle East. Both are from the United States (Colorado and Washington) but have come to Multiply from outside of the USMB context. The following interview gives glimpses into their journeys of following Jesus into mission service and of joining Multiply. Due to safety and security concerns in their region of service, these workers will be known in our publications by their pseudonyms, Jan and Charles.
Mark: How did you hear God’s call into mission service?
Charles: I came to faith in Jesus while attending college in Kansas in 2019, and I knew right away that I wanted to serve God with my whole life. I was headed toward a career in Christian Counseling, but a short-term mission trip to West Africa in the spring of 2021 changed that. My eyes were opened to the global Church, and I realized that encountering God on cross-cultural mission helped me grow as a believer. Through that experience, God showed me that he wanted me to be a part of his global mission.
Jan: My journey into mission work began with a short-term trip with my church in 2017 at the end of a nine-month discipleship program. I was a teacher at the time, but I eventually took a leave of absence from my job to explore other mission opportunities. The more I got involved, the more I felt like I came alive in cross-cultural settings, that I was somehow most fully who God had
created me to be when I was in those settings. I felt my heart being stirred especially toward the people of the Middle East. I started learning Arabic, going on more trips, and gaining knowledge about the Muslim world through others. Eventually, I left teaching and began to volunteer with a ministry of Multiply called River of Life that was connected to a vast network of national church leaders in the Middle East and North Africa. I began to spend more and more time in that part of the world and, despite walking through some intense grief in that season of my life, I seemed to thrive as I served in mission. Overall, I would say my calling has unfolded over time. I have learned how to follow the Lord’s leading step by step, surrendering and trusting him to lead me, even through challenging curveballs, holding my plans loosely, knowing how quickly things can change. I feel a clarity of calling to the people of the Middle East, yet what it looks like to live out that calling seems to evolve in different seasons according to his leading.
Mark: What do you love most about serving God in mission?
Charles: I love the relationships made along the way on this journey, both with those of like-minded faith and with those from opposing worldviews. In this, God has granted me an ability to be more hospitable and accepting of people from various backgrounds, making sure the love of Christ is real and noticeable in all of my relationships.
Jan: I also love how relational my work is. It’s such a joy and privilege to get to know and walk alongside my friends who are open and curious or seeking, as well as those who are part of the body of Christ. I love the people that God has brought into my life and the relationships I have built along the way. And it’s such a joy to see the hearts of loved ones soften toward the Lord.
Mark: What is most challenging about serving God in mission?
Charles: While I’m serving in regions where there is not a strong church presence, there can be a sense of loneliness and disconnect from the vast church community that I have back home. This is challenging because I believe the Church is at her best when she has many members with unique giftings working together in unison. At the current time, we are asking God to build his Church in the Middle East and provide a stronger presence throughout the region.
Jan: There is a real cost to living a missional life. As I seek to be obedient to what God is asking of me, it often means forsaking some of the comforts and security of a more traditional path. It also often requires stepping out in faith, even when it might seem crazy in a worldly sense. Those things can feel especially challenging as a single person, to not have someone I’m doing all of this with.
Mark: What does it mean to you to be obedient to the Great Commandment and Commission?
Charles: Being obedient to the Great Commandment means posturing myself in a lowly manner so that others may be encouraged upwards into a place of honor with God. Being obedient to the Great Commission means making the love of Christ visible to others, leaning into my identity as the light of the world for others to see, experience, and be invited into God’s love through belief in Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Jan: We are all called to surrender our lives to Jesus, and then to go and make disciples. What that looks like may vary from person to person, but we should all be seeking the Lord’s leading for how he would have us join him in bringing people to himself.
Mark: How did you hear about Multiply?
Charles: I came to faith in Jesus while I was a student at Tabor College in Kansas. Within a month after that experience, I met some people who worked with Multiply. They had a joy on their faces that I wanted to experience! They invited me to a three-day mission training event called Arise where I learned about God’s mission in today’s world.
Jan: I first heard about Multiply because my friend was helping to facilitate peace camps in the Middle East. She was serving with Multiply, which was actively involved in supporting the camps. At the time, I had never even heard of the Mennonite Brethren. Through participation in those peace camps, I met some great people serving with Multiply. As I journeyed through life with some of them, I got connected with Nasser al’Qahtani and the River of Life network. Multiply just became the natural choice for me to partner with as a sending organization.
Mark: How can we pray for you and your ministry?
Charles: You can pray for my encouragement that Jesus is worth giving up every single thing even when the call may be daunting in a hard region. Pray for those who don’t yet believe in Jesus in my region, that they would be receptive to the way that God is revealing himself to them through dreams and visions. Pray for the Church in the Middle East, that they would be unified and see themselves having a role in walking out the Great Commission to those in their communities, not letting fear suppress the need for their neighbors to hear the saving hope in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Jan: Please pray for the seeds of the Gospel to be watered and cultivated within the hearts of my Muslim friends, and for the Lord to give them dreams and visions of himself. Pray for the believers of the underground church in the region, many of whom lose so much when they choose to follow Jesus. Pray that they would experience rich fellowship, protection, encouragement, and growth. Please also pray that people and churches would be led to partner with me in prayer and financially, in order to sustain me in this work.
PRAY & GIVE
Please pray for Jan and Charles as they prepare for service in the Middle East. Pray also for a strong network of individuals and churches to get behind them and provide the necessary prayer and financial support for their ministry. Pray about becoming a part of that team yourself. To give toward Jan or Charles’ ministry, go to multiply.net/give
obeying the great and commission
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
JESUS IN MATTHEW 22:36-38
“ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
JESUS IN MATTHEW 28:19-20
great commandment
The Red-Robed Strangers
BURUNDI | By Nikki White
Ten years later, the dream still plagued her. Passie knew that it was from God but, try as she might, she had yet to understand the dream’s meaning. All she could do was wait and pray.
Pascasie Nicayenzi had been a follower of Jesus almost her whole life, with a passion for reaching the lost. While still finishing her degree in linguistics and language teaching in Bujumbura, Burundi, she asked God for an opportunity to explore mission work. Waiting and praying eventually led her to work with the Batwa Pygmy people in her homeland.
“I believed God was calling me into ministry,” she related, “and that this would be one step of many.”
While in university, she met and fell in love with Hermes, another linguistics student. Although she felt confident that God intended for them to be married, Passie waited for him to initiate. “He was shy,” she remembered, “and took a long time to propose! When he finally did, he asked me if I would pray and seek God about whether we were supposed to be married.”
Passie told Hermes, “No, I do not have to pray more. I already know the answer!’”
The married couple were well suited to one another, but Passie worried that her husband might not share her strong sense of calling into mission work. Rather than try to persuade him, she chose again to wait and pray.
Finally, a day came when she approached her husband, almost tentatively, to confess that God had been speaking to her about global mission. “Would you please take time to pray,” she said, “and ask God if this is his will for us?”
“No,” he told her, grinning. “I do not have to pray more. I already know the answer!”
Despite their shared sense of calling, it seemed presumptuous to imagine that their small church in Africa would alone be able to mobilize them as missionaries.
Passie and her husband brought their impossible dream to God, and then waited and prayed.
They also strategized, just in case.
“My husband and I knew that even if we were somehow able to raise funds to launch into global mission, we needed to do all we could to be self-sustaining,” Passie explained. For
In Passie’s dream, she saw strange men in red robes and with shaved heads.
this reason, the couple went on to found Rundi Language Hub, a translation service that now provides them with a small but steady income.
“Most of our work is done virtually,” she explained, “which means that we could operate from anywhere in the world. But where, in the world, did God want us to go?”
One night, Passie had a vivid dream in which she saw a line of strange men, all with shaved heads and in red robes. They seemed to be passing something around. Passie had never seen such people before, but their faces looked Asian. They were definitely not from Africa!
Somehow, she knew that she and her husband were being called by God to bring the Gospel to this people group. But who were they? Where were they?
Puzzled, Passie asked her husband, friends, and colleagues about what she had dreamed. Where could such men be found? But no one was able to answer her question.
She searched online but found nothing that brought any clarity. “We had no way forward,” she said. “All we could do was wait and pray.”
Somehow, she knew that she and her husband were being called by God to bring the Gospel to this people group.
The couple waited and prayed for almost ten years, during which time three beautiful children were born to them. Although Passie and her husband began to feel settled in their family life and professional life, her dream was never resolved.
Then, one day, a missionary friend was sharing some photographs with her. In one photo was a line of strange men, all with shaved heads and red robes!
“Who are these people?” Passie asked excitedly.
“These are monks,” her friend replied.
“Monks?” Passie asked. “What is a monk?”
Her friend went on to explain that these were Buddhist devotees in Asia. What a discovery! Passie ran to tell her husband, “I’ve seen our land! I know where it is!” But how would they ever get there?
Inspired anew, they prayed earnestly for God to connect them with those who could help them with next steps. Then,
Hermes and Passie are waiting on God and praying together
Passie’s work as a translator brought her into contact with a global worker from Multiply, and she heard about ministry in Southeast Asia. “Are there Buddhist monks there?” she asked. There were indeed.
Not long after, they received a request to provide translation services at a gathering of the International Community of Mennonite Brethren in Malawi. Passie was more than happy to serve in this capacity, and it was there, during the gathering, that she met the Multiply team from Thailand. Team members listened in amazement to her dream and, praying together, discerned that Passie and her husband should plan to come to Thailand to explore possible future ministry there.
“We can hardly believe it!” Passie exclaimed. “After so many years, we can finally take the next step, and see where the dream leads us.”
Both she and her husband know that nothing is certain, but they are resolved to do their part. “We will wait,” she affirmed, “and we will continue to pray.”
PRAY
Join Passie and Hermes as they wait on God and pray for discernment. Pray also for this possible partnership with Multiply workers and national partners in Southeast Asia.
To receive our Daily Prayer Guide and keep up with prayer requests from our global workers and national partners, go to multiply.net/dpg
Something Crazy
THAILAND | By
Jay
My name is Jay, and I am sixteen years old. I am from Yangon, Myanmar, but I was sent by my family to live with my uncle in Mae Sot, Thailand, because they were afraid that the military in our country would force me to become a soldier.
When I first reached the village, it was late, and I was tired. My uncle gave me only a few minutes of rest before asking, “Would you like to go to church?”
I had no idea what “church” was, but I didn’t want to say no to my uncle. So, we went to a house where there was a room full of young people like me. They were kind and friendly, not like my friends in Yangon. I made a new friend there named Simon, which made me happy. But when I heard the pastor say “we have all sinned” that made me angry. Why would he say that?
A few weeks later, Simon invited me to a prayer meeting. I had no idea what a “prayer meeting” was, but I didn’t want to say no to my friend. So we went to a prayer meeting.
My friend Simon said, “Just sit there, make your heart peaceful and say, ‘Jesus, hallelujah.’” I did this, and, after a few minutes, something crazy happened.
I felt myself leaving my body. At first, it was very peaceful, and there was a beautiful garden. Then I realized I couldn’t move—black chains were pinning my body to the ground. I looked up. Sets of white clothing were flying into the clouds. Seven beings were there, blowing trumpets and welcoming the clothes into the clouds, where they became stars.
I woke up, and my heart was racing. I leaned over and said, “Simon! Something crazy just happened to me!” I told him about the vision, and he said the chains were my sins, but that Jesus would give me a white robe of righteousness— forgiveness! I went home confused.
That night I had another dream of the beautiful garden. A man with a long stick walked towards me. I asked him, “Can I help you? Who are you?” He touched me and said, “I am Jesus. Come and follow me, son.”
I woke up happy, my face wet with tears. I had no idea what “follow me” meant, but I didn’t want to say no to Jesus.
So, I said yes.
After encountering Jesus in a dream, Jay is prayed for by local church leaders and Multiply global workers, Dave and Louise Sinclair-Peters.
Mr. Gupta
SOUTH ASIA |
By Jaeem
Mr. Ranjit Gupta was very sick. A bitter betrayal had driven him to alcoholism. Over time, his liver and other organs were failing, and he seemed beyond hope. His wife called on me only to pray that her husband would experience a peaceful death.
Was death the only option? I wondered. And would death truly bring peace, seeing as this man had not experienced it for decades.
The drinking had started when his business failed. Mr. Gupta was a seller of fine cloth, and was in the process of setting up a big shop in partnership with some friends. Then, those friends cheated him, and he lost everything, including his will to live. After that, he drank to avoid dealing with the debt, and stopped caring for his own family.
I met his wife when she came to our church one day, weighed down by this burden of her husband’s despair. She kept coming back and, over time, she accepted Christ as her Savior, and was baptized. She prayed faithfully for her husband to be healed—in heart and body—and to stop his drinking. At her request, I also visited him regularly and pleaded with him to stop, but Mr. Gupta’s condition only became worse. Finally, the day came when she invited me to help him die in peace.
However, I was not ready to give up. I prayed again for healing, and he did not die. In fact, he got better! Everyone, including the doctors, were amazed. This event brought Mr. Gupta to his senses, and he decided that he would stop drinking for good.
After that, his life turned around. He became a husband to his wife and a father to his children, providing for them as a rickshaw driver. Recently, he invited me to celebrate with them at their eldest son’s birthday party. I brought a gift, of course, but I was amazed when they also handed a gift to me!
“My heart is full of gratitude for what God has done for me,” Mr. Gupta said as he handed over a gift of money for our church, earned from his new work.
God continued to bring more and more healing to his heart until, on December 25, 2023, Mr. Ranjit Gupta accepted Christ as his Savior.
GO
People all over the world like Mr. Gupta (above) and Jay (previous page) are experiencing the love of Jesus and finding forgiveness and healing in his name. Multiply’s global workers and national partners are involved in multiplying disciples so that more and more people can hear the message of the Gospel and experience the love of Jesus. To learn more about becoming a global worker with Multiply, go to multiply.net/go
The Vow
SOUTH ASIA | By Nikki White
Arun knew from early childhood that his life belonged to God. As he was growing up in South Asia, his parents lost no opportunity to remind him of the story that shaped his destiny.
As a child, Arun suffered from nighttime epileptic seizures, and his parents tried various treatments and medication to see their son healed. “They even took me to evangelistic crusades,” Arun said, “where people were healed of their diseases. But my seizures did not stop.”
His parents began to beg God to either heal their son or to take his life. “They could not bear to see me suffer in this way,” Arun said.
His parents began to beg God to either heal their son or to take his life.
As second-generation Christians in a predominantly Sikh family, Arun’s parents took seriously the practice of prayer and reading the Bible. Every evening they would devote themselves to this until, one evening, they sensed that God was challenging them in their faith. They said to God, “If you are going to heal our son, then do it now, right now, and we will dedicate him to serve you for all of his life.”
The seizures stopped immediately.
Years later, Arun related, “I grew up with the knowledge of that vow. My parents never let me forget that I was called to be a pastor. I owed my life to God.”
Arun intended to honor that vow, but he also had other plans for his life. In his youth, he dreamed of travel and adventure. Graduating from high school, he took a course to join the airline industry, thinking that he would have an exciting life, earn a lot of money, and then settle down and serve the Lord. To his dismay, he was unable to find a single
job, even though his classmates had no problem finding employment in that field.
“So I decided to go to Bible college instead,” he said, “to finish undergraduate studies and then do a master’s degree in theology.”
However, in the back of Arun’s mind was a clear thought: “I do not want to be a pastor! I will get a good job with an office and a good salary in some Christian organization. I will wear a white shirt and a coat and a tie and then I will settle down and serve the Lord.”
After graduating, Arun tried to start his own non-profit, founding a school for underprivileged children. “That idea was a flop,” Arun shook his head, “but I did meet and marry Anjana, who worked with me for a time as a trained teacher.”
After that, he started an animal shelter, but the animals just got sicker when they were brought to his farm! He prayed, “God, why are you not letting me succeed?”
Then he heard God interrupt him and say, “What are you not understanding? You are a chosen vessel for my kingdom! You cannot do anything else’”
At that point, Arun began a ministry of evangelism. “I will win others to Jesus,” he thought to himself, “but I won’t have to pastor them!”
Feeling insecure, he did everything he could to avoid preaching the Gospel in his own hometown. Then, in 2009, God challenged him again. “He told me I must start in my own Jerusalem, like the apostles did,” Arun explained. “I needed to minister in my own hometown. I did not want to hear that! I made every excuse, and I told God that if he wanted me to minister in my hometown, he must first do a miracle to convince me.”
Arun told God that he would go across the street and share the Gospel with that family. If they would accept Jesus,
then he would give his time, effort, money, blood and sweat to be a pastor!
Within minutes of hearing the Good News, the family of six across the street accepted Jesus as their Savior. Arun had his answer. He surrendered to God, embraced his calling as a pastor, and began to shepherd the new believers. Within six months, he was discipling others to plant more house churches, and soon after he was overseeing fifteen churches in the area. At last, Arun was fulfilling the vow.
He knew his calling, and he also knew that he could not do it alone. “I gathered a group of other young men to serve together,” Arun said. “I let them know me—from the inside and from the outside. They saw me— how I live, how I am my weakness, how I am with my family, how I am in ministry. When they faced struggles, I was also with them, helping them to resist family pressure and to take a stand for Jesus.”
As Arun discipled these young men, more house churches were launched, flourished and multiplied—in more than one city, and all with strong leaders. It was then that both Arun and his wife Anjana began to sense that a change was coming. God was calling them to a new kind of ministry, not just another town or city but something radically different. They had no idea what this might be.
Soon after, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for South Asia was visiting Arun’s area and the two met.
“He had a vision to reach South Asian immigrants in Canada,” Arun said. “He and his wife were praying for someone who would understand the language and culture of these people. My wife and I felt a stirring in our hearts. Could God possibly choose us for this ministry?”
Eventually, God answered that question. It took almost four years for Arun, Anjana, and their two sons to complete the move to Canada, but in 2022 they became Multiply church planters among the South Asian diaspora of British Columbia.
“It is an honor,” Arun exclaimed. “Being a servant of the Lord is an honor! I don’t think any other job can compare to being a servant of the Most High. Please pray for us to do everything in humility, and that we would be used as faithful vessels in his kingdom.”
GIVE
To make a donation toward the support of South Asian ministry in Canada, go to: multiply.net/south-asian-ministry-canada
To watch a video about Arun and Anjana’s journey from India to Canada, go to multiply.net/arun-anjana-video
Arun and Anjana and their two sons, Daniel and Joel, arrived in Canada in May 2022 to become Multiply church planters among the South Asian diaspora of British Columbia.
